We work with numerous industries in Maryland and many have felt the pain of the recent recession. All of our lives have been touched by it directly or indirectly. Our wide format group works closely with the Architectural industry and like most things related to development and construction, they have faced brutal competition and conditions.

 

We have recently started thinking of ourselves as architects. Several of our sales and support staff have a CDIA+ certification in order to better serve our clients. Here is how CompTIA summarizes the certification:

-Certified Document Imaging Architect (CDIA+) certification ensures critical knowledge for a career in the document imaging and document management industry. The international, vendor-neutral certification covers all major areas in the technologies and best practices used to plan, design, and specify a document imaging management system. Skills and knowledge measured by this exam is representative of a document imaging professional with 12-to-18 months on-the-job experience.

Candidate job roles include hardware installation coordinator, IT compliance specialist, and multimedia specialist. Technology companies in the document imaging industry, including Canon, Ricoh, Konica and Kyocera, recognize CompTIA CDIA+ certification as a consistent, objective way to evaluate imaging industry professionals.

What I have seen with several of our recent client conversations is a desire to just get by with the smallest, least expensive solution to meet today’s requirements. Of course the budgetary pressure is immense and I can appreciate the desire to tighten belts in order to keep afloat.

I wonder if the same pressure is being applied to the builders of our roads, bridges and buildings. Are we going to see an upswing in business, travel, production in a few years that will stress the infrastructure of today? In 2013 and beyond will we be upgrading our roads, buildings or document management systems and look back at a time when we skipped the debate and design steps in order to make it through a tough patch?

At Advance, we insist that our sales people get to know the customers’ business issues. We need to understand why they exist and together we can design the best long-term solution possible. It is tough when you are asked to provide recommendations without the work on the front end.

My hope is that the builders and designers of our infrastructure can listen to the financial needs of today, but still take the time to work for the long-term. It is in all of our best interests for the architects to do their jobs well, we will be the better for it in 5-10 years. Find out more about long-term customized solutions from Advance.